“Well? Who is it then?” I persisted, starting to get even more annoyed at his behaviour.
“Your parents,” he gulped.
ChapterTwenty-Four
“What?” I sounded in shock. “Who did you just say is on the other side of the door?”
“Your parents,” Cedric gulped and took a tentative step back. “Your parents are on the other side of the door.”
“What are they doing here?” I asked, the question rhetorical. “I saw them earlier before they bailed on me. There’s no viable reason for them to be here right now.”
“Yet, here they are,” he chuckled nervously as he stepped away from the door. “Agree to put a pause on our fight?”
“Agreed.” I nodded and reached for his hand. “Are you ready to come clean to our parents that we’ve been secretly seeing each other behind their backs?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Not yet.”
"Good, because me neither," I agreed and pointed to my bedroom door. "Go hide in here and close the door behind you. If you hear someone coming to my bedroom, hide in my wardrobe. It's a bit small, but there's nowhere else to hide, and you're not going to fit under my bed."
"If I wasn’t so worried about your parents catching us, I would crack a joke about how big I am and how I’m not going to fit in there,” Cedric laughed, but the sound drifted away as he rushed toward my bedroom, closing the door behind him just as I had instructed.
"Saffron?" Another knock sounded on the door. Mum. "We know you’re in there. We just heard you talking to someone. Is this a bad time? Do you have a guest? Is it Richard?"
No, Mum! It’s not Richard!I wanted to scream.Stop talking about Richard because he’s the reason Cedric and I had our first argument. Thanks to you, of course!
Exhaling deeply, I brushed my hair over my shoulders in an attempt to make myself look more presentable. I unlocked the door to reveal the peculiar faces of Don and Clarke Remington.
“What are you two doing here?” I asked, trying not to look too suspicious.
“What’s wrong, Saff? Not happy to see us?" Dad chuckled as he let himself into my apartment and immediately headed toward the fridge.
“I’m always happy to see you guys.” I closed the door. “But we saw each other earlier this evening. You never stop by my apartment like this. Especially not after we just saw each other earlier. Or this late. Is everything okay?"
“We felt bad for leaving you with Richard earlier,” Dad said as he helped himself to a beer from my fridge. “You didn’t look too happy about it. So, we thought we’d drop by and make up for it.”
“Make up for it how?” I asked curiously.
"Dessert is on the way," he grinned excitedly. "Between the three of us, we've got a banoffee waffle, a triple chocolate cookie dough and a strawberry ice cream sundae, so we’re in for a treat.”
“That sounds amazing.” I tried not to salivate.
“Okay, enough about dessert.” Mum waved a dismissive hand in the air as she commandeered our attention. “Who were you talking to?”
“When?” I asked, feigning innocence.
“You were talking to someone when we knocked on the door.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“Yes, you were,” she insisted, no doubt seeing right through my lie as she always did when I was a child. It was unfortunate that the ability had carried on well into my adulthood. “We heard you talking to someone when we were knocking, right, Don?”
"It sounded like you were talking to someone.” Dad took Mum’s side. “I thought it might be the TV, but I see it’s not on.”
My eyes widened, and I cursed myself for turning off the TV during the fight with Cedric. Thankfully, my parents didn’t seem to notice the fear that flashed across my face.
Speaking of Cedric, he was still hiding out in my bedroom!
“I was on FaceTime with Alina,” I lied smoothly. “That was probably who you heard me talking to.”